About CJSR 88.5

CJSR 88.5

CJSR 88.5 is the campus and community radio station of the University of Alberta — a volunteer-run, listener-supported outlet broadcasting from the Students' Union Building in Edmonton. With a stated mission "to enlighten and entertain our audience through high quality and diverse programming that constantly challenges the status quo," it plays a diverse range of musical genres and spoken-word programming. Its roots trace to 1946, when the Alberta Student Radio Directorate formed after CKUA left the campus; it became a full broadcast station on 88.5 FM in 1984, operating with 900 watts.

Overview

CJSR-FM is a campus and community radio station licensed to Edmonton, Alberta. Its broadcast licence is held by the First Alberta Campus Radio Association (FACRA), a registered charity since 2005. It broadcasts on 88.5 MHz with 900 watts, with studios in the Students' Union Building of the University of Alberta and its transmitter atop the building.

The station relies on nearly 300 volunteers to keep running, with a very small paid staff. It is funded by a mix of student fees (collected via the University of Alberta Students' Union and Graduate Students' Association), listener donations, and limited advertising revenue. CJSR is a member of the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA). As a community-based campus station, it must meet CRTC requirements including 25% spoken-word programming, no more than 10% "hit" music, and 35% Canadian content in its music.

History

Campus radio at the University of Alberta began with broadcasts over Edmonton station CJCA in 1925. Two years later, the school bought local station CFCK, changed the call letters to CKUA, and ran it as an educational broadcaster on AM beginning in 1927. In 1944, the Province of Alberta took over CKUA, and in 1945 CKUA moved from the campus to the Provincial Building in downtown Edmonton.

To fill the void, the University of Alberta Student Radio Directorate was created in 1946, building a small studio in "Hut H," an army hut left on campus from the war, using equipment donated by CKUA. The Directorate became the Alberta Student Radio Society in 1948, producing three hours of programming weekly for CKUA while broadcasting to the university via a closed-circuit PA system. In 1968, the Radio Society moved to the new Students' Union building, with second-hand equipment donated by CFRN and CJCA. In 1969, a 100-watt carrier-current AM transmitter was installed atop the Student Union building, broadcasting to residences and academic buildings.

In 1970, CKSR was born — a "seat of the pants" station broadcasting a weak FM signal to the campus. An FM cable signal was added in 1976, and the station changed its call letters to CJSR in 1978, moving its carrier-current frequency to 1580 kHz. When it obtained its FM licence in 1983, CJSR surrendered its AM carrier-current licence and became a full broadcast station in 1984.

FACRA was formed as a partnership between the Students' Union and the Friends of CJSR Society; in 2002, the latter was disbanded and its assets transferred to FACRA. In 2014, CJSR received the John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts at the Edmonton Mayor's Celebration for the Arts, and its programming has won numerous NCRA awards for current affairs, documentary, news, syndicated shows, creative production, and sports talk.

CJSR's roots go back to the 1920s. Campus radio at the University of Alberta began with broadcasts over Edmonton station CJCA in 1925; two years later the school bought local station CFCK, changed the calls to CKUA, and ran it as an educational broadcaster over AM beginning in 1927. CKUA's studios moved off campus in 1955 and its licence was eventually transferred to the Alberta Educational Communications Corporation (ACCESS Alberta) in 1974 — with CKUA-AM and FM now run as public radio by the CKUA Radio Foundation. CKUA, in an earlier incarnation, was the first campus radio broadcast in Western Canada.

The station that became CJSR started in 1946 when CKUA left the campus and the University of Alberta Student Radio Directorate (later the Alberta Student Radio Society) was formed, creating programming sent to CKUA. By 1967, closed-circuit broadcasts were heard at various campus buildings; in 1969 a 100-watt carrier-current AM transmitter atop the Student Union building broadcast to Lister Hall residences and the Education, Engineering, General Services, and Tory buildings. In 1970, CKSR was born — "a seat of the pants radio station" broadcasting a weak FM signal to campus and whoever else could pick it up (the CK from CKUA, the SR for student radio). A 1974 FM application was rejected by the CRTC, and in April of that year CKSR shut down over a budget shortfall with the Student Union; it returned in February 1976 with Students' Union funding for a general manager and chief programmer, adding an FM cable signal that September.

In 1978 CKSR became CJSR after CRTC approval on July 6 to operate a carrier-current station on 1580 kHz at 20 watts. The Friends of CJSR was formed in 1980 as a fundraising non-profit; in March 1981 the University approved in principle the move to FM. On May 24, 1983, the station was licensed to operate a new FM station at 88.5 MHz with 44 watts of ERP, and equipment upgrades plus a rooftop transmitter on the Students' Union Building were completed that December. CJSR became a full broadcast station on January 7, 1984, turning in its AM carrier-current licence.

The governance structure settled as the First Alberta Campus Radio Association (FACRA) — a partnership between the University of Alberta Students' Union (collecting a student levy) and the Friends of CJSR Society (soliciting listener donations and holding capital assets). In 2002 the Friends entity was disbanded and its assets transferred to FACRA, which became a registered charity in 2005. The station has been streamed online since 2000 and is a member of the National Campus and Community Radio Association. It runs on 900 watts (Class A, 52-metre HAAT) from atop the Students' Union Building.

CJSR's mission — "to enlighten and entertain our audience through high quality and diverse programming that constantly challenges the status quo" — has been recognized repeatedly: in 2014 it received the John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts at the Edmonton Mayor's Celebration for the Arts, and its programming has won NCRA awards across categories including current affairs/magazine, documentary, news, syndicated show/podcast, creative production, special programming, and sports talk. Nearly 300 volunteers keep the station running — a scale that testifies to its institutional importance on campus and in Edmonton's arts community.

Programming

CJSR plays a diverse range of musical genres and spoken-word programming. The station is home to nationally syndicated shows like "Terra Informa," and was the home of the early version of the "Science for the People" podcast. Its programming challenges the status quo with content not found on commercial radio, produced by nearly 300 volunteers.

Coverage and Audience

CJSR's 900-watt signal broadcasts throughout Edmonton and the surrounding area, and since 2000 its broadcasts have also been available via streaming audio. Its audience is the university community and Edmonton's independent-music, arts, and activist communities.

Ownership

CJSR-FM's broadcast licence is held by the First Alberta Campus Radio Association (FACRA), a non-profit registered charity funded by student fees, listener donations, and limited advertising revenue. The station is volunteer-run and listener-supported.

Digital Presence

CJSR streams live online and maintains an active web presence with program schedules and archives. The station maintains social media accounts promoting its programs and events. Wikipedia lists cjsr.com as the station's official website; the official site could not be independently verified in this research environment, so the website field is left empty in this draft.

The station's history — from the 1925 CJCA broadcasts through the 1946 Directorate to the 1984 FM launch — is documented by Radio Survivor's 2025 station visit, the Canadian Communications Foundation's broadcasting-history.ca project, and CRTC licensing records.